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Poltergeist (25th Anniversary Edition) [1982]


RRP: £16.99
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

It’s been a long time coming, but at last the digitally remastered version of the original 1982 horror movie has arrived. Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, teamed up with family-oriented producer Steven Spielberg to make Poltergeist, about a haunted suburban home in a development very much like the Arizona one in which Spielberg was raised. (Because it came out the same summer as Spielberg's E.T., it was tempting to see both movies as representing Spielberg's ambivalent feelings about childhood in suburbia. One was a fantasy, the other a nightmare.) Spielberg also co-wrote the screenplay, which taps into primal, childlike fears of monsters under the bed, monsters in the closet, sinister clown faces, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. At first, some of the odd happenings in the house are kind of funny and amusing, but they grow gradually creepier until the film climaxes in a terrifying special-effects extravaganza when five-year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is kidnapped by the spooks and held hostage in another dimension. Though not nearly as frightening as Hooper's magnum opus, or the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which came along two years later, Poltergeist is one of the smartest and most entertaining horror pictures of its time. --Jim Emerson

Editorial
DVD Description

Suburbanites Steve (Nelson) and Diane (Williams) suddenly experience paranormal activity in their home. What begins as minor excitement quickly turns into nasty ghostly encounters. The disappearance of their daughter Carol Anne (O’Rourke) forces the Freelings to bring in parapsychologists and a professional exorcist to exorcise their home.

Special features
 Two-part documentary "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Revealed"
Part I: Science of the Spirits
Part II: Communing with the Dead

Editorial
Synopsis

A peaceful suburban home suddenly becomes a gateway for enraged ghosts who kidnap a little girl and take her to their twilight world. Hiring paranormal experts, the girl's family attempts to discover why she was taken and how to get her back. Great performances by all in this superlative ghost story.

Tobe Hooper's Best Work
Review date: 2008-08-20 Rating: 10 out of 10

Poltergeist is a fantastic film, I didn't know anyone who disliked this film so I thought I would buy it and I must say that everyone was right, this film is amazing.

The film focuses on the Freeling family, who's youngest daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is transported through a spectral void by a angry poltergeist. The family calls 3 supernatural investigators to see if they can pinpoint where Carol Anne is. When the investigators come up with nothing, things take a really eeire turn.


Poltergeist has great special effects for an early 80's film and they look surprisingly realistic and several moments made me jump out of my skin, that clown scared the hell out of me!


This is a 25th anniversary edition so I was expecting some extras about the film but there is only a 2 part documentary but this didn't bother me as I get DVD's for the film only but if you like lots of extras, then you may want to get a different version but the film is fantastic and when a film is this good, extras don't matter.

If you're looking for a film that has an eerie feel to it and keeps you guessing whats going to happen, get Poltergeist.

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Reviews


well made but not good enough
Review date: 2008-06-20 Rating: 6 out of 10

I really wanted to enjoy this because this is supposedly such a great film, i even bought this special edition to enjoy it even more! However the 'horror' which was projected onto my screen proved somewhat farcical and in many parts i was doubled up with laughter!I appreciate Speilberg's work but this wasn't something i'd watch again and i've watched many horror films in my time.

Will never watch again, but not because poorly made
Review date: 2007-11-03 Rating: 6 out of 10

This movie scared like me no other movie I've watch which a guess is the point, but when you watch it in the theaters as a child sitting in a booster seat the scare sticks with you in a way it may not reach an adult. I only remember bits and pieces of the first time because I think I was cowaring in my seat and trying not to watch it. I wanted to give it one star, but think it is well made so at least deserves three. I don't recommend this movie for any child and have no plans to re-watch it in my lifetime.

ONE OF THE GREATEST HAUNTED HOUSE FILMS OF ALL TIME
Review date: 2007-11-03 Rating: 10 out of 10

Real estate agent Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) and his family, Diane, (JoBeth Williams) Dana, (Dominique Dunne) Carol Anne, (Heather O'Rourke) and Robbie, (Oliver Robbins) move into a new home in the suburbs. Packed with nice neighbors, beautiful scenery and a quiet atmosphere, it is the perfect place to raise a family. However, inside the house, strange things begin to happen. Chairs and furniture begin to rearrange themselves after only seconds have lapsed and Carol Anne has a strange fascination with watching the static on the TV instead of regular programming. Steve doesn't believe it until Diane shows him a special trick: a chair in the kitchen slides across the room by itself, with no one touching it. Freaked out, he calls in a paranormal research team, lead by Dr. Lesh, (Beatrice Straight) to find out what is wrong with his house. At first dealing with the spirits and declaring the house free from poltergeists, even stranger things happen to the family to convince them that they may not have gotten rid of them after all.

The Good News: As haunted house films go, this one is one of the best. Don't let the PG rating fool you, this is a scary film. Haunted house films usually only have a small margin of error, because how often can you get scared of them? The timeless ones know how to make the audience feel uncomfortable being around the house in question, and this one does it marvelously. The house looks creepy to begin with, which always helps, but the inside isn't, so it looks like a normal house. It looks like it could happen to you, and that is where the best horror comes from: it comes from the fact that it could happen to you. How could the rest of the population believe that the events happening on screen is truly terrifying? Make it happen to real-looking people. Nobody here looks like they just came from the gym, or even seen a plastic surgeon, and the chemistry between the family is so realistic you begin to feel for them. What happens at first is a nice twist: the poltergeists don't want to harm, instead they want to play. You can tell in one great scene: the chair slide. Instead of picking up the chair and throwing it across the room at the characters, the poltergeists have fun by sliding it across the floor. It's a little creepy when you first see it, and the false sense of security is just right to lure you off track. However, once the film gets going and their true nature becomes apparent, it has one great chill after another. When they bring in the paranormal team is great at that. By bringing in these high-tech equipment and other gizmo's is shocking, because we don't know what is happening to deserve this. Once we do learn of what has happened to the house, it just becomes a roller-coaster ride through to the end, with lots of action, suspense, and danger. The middle section also isn't like any other haunted house films, as we are trying to figure out what is happening to the family and how to deal with their problems instead of becoming haunted by what happened in the beginning. It is full of new ideas and flows together nicely with the ending. That action packed ending is another perfect example for delivering chills. After escaping the spirits, the family gets out of the house, and into the front yard, when dozens of skeletons begin to pour out of the ground. Dodging them to get to their car, one erupts out of the garage in front of them and lands on the car, which is my favorite jump in the film. That is such an action-packed ending that it just makes the beginning of the film seem like nothing really much happened. I love endings that send you out on a high note, and this is definitely one of them.

The Bad News: The beginning of the film is a bit slow, so it takes a while to get going. Also, I'm getting kind of tired of having the house be haunted by having it rest on an ancient burial ground. How about some more creativity next time?

The Final Verdict: Despite being another entry in the burial ground haunting films, this is one of the better ones. It's creepy, atmospheric, and certainly packing enough chills to make it worthwhile. Give it a shot if you like this kind of film, but it is recommended to all horror fans as well.


It's Here...
Review date: 2007-11-03 Rating: 8 out of 10

The classic Poltergeist is released on Region 2 DVD for the first time. If you own the original release on Region 1, it is worth noting that the picture quality on this release is significantly better, so despite the lack of decent extras, it is worth upgrading for picture quality alone.

However, this release does suffer from an annoying jump cut that occurs between the scene where JoBeth Williams' character is showing her husband the sliding chairs (and child) in the kitchen and when they go to their neighbour's house to ask if he's been experiencing anything strange. The cut happens right in the middle of a sentence. The reason for this is because the line "I hate Pizza Hut" is uttered by Craig T. Nelson's character near the end of the scene. Pizza Hut strongly objected to the bad mouthing of their company and MGM agreed to excise it. The sequence was only ever available on the original 1982 theatrical prints of the film. The edit occurs on all other prints of the film. Whether it be television airings, Home Video, DVD, etc.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Beatrice Straight
Craig T Nelson
Heather O'Rourke
Jo Beth Williams

Creators:
Craig T Nelson (Primary Contributor)
Jo Beth Williams (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900647519
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2007-10-15
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1982
Language: English (Original Language)

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